VenusBlogs came to educate, to be educated and to share the wealth of knowledge that we knew would be available to all of us. What we hadn’t expected were the means by which those valuable lessons were to come to us. And oh, did those lessons come.

They came in the form of lectures given to us by Keynote Speakers Dr. Deepak Chopra, Dr. Brené Brown and Arianna Huffington — they came in the form of the women who visited us at our VenusBlogs booth, eager for information on vaginal health and sexual self-esteem. Incredible life lessons came to us through the many women who readily offered their talents, insights and abilities to VenusBlogs — the future contributors to our publication.

What was most interesting, however, was how the learning came to us in the form of conflict.

Marie Slaton, the COO of the Manhattan Centers, found that not every woman out there warmed to the word, “vagina,” and that some were in fact, seemingly turned off by it. Marie’s pitch was simple, “VenusBlogs is an intimate conversation. Let’s talk about sexual self esteem, your sexual health and your vagina. Come on ladies, we all own one…”Marie Slaton, getting down and dirty with VB guests.

Such a simple concept. Vagina. There’s nothing vague here, nothing to separate anyone woman from her own truth. And yet, the word vagina still has the power to keep women from “owning” up to who they are, physically. Yes, physically. While it’s obvious that the word causes a guttural, emotional reaction that even borders on denial in some women, the real truth is that if we’re ever going to be able to accept ourselves we have to accept the uniquely feminine body part called The Vagina. We need to embrace what we look like down there, how it functions, what we can do to improve it, what we can do to celebrate it’s outstanding qualities, what we need to do to come to terms with just how amazing the female orgasm is — and we need to be able to say the word, vagina, to start.

Please don’t tell me that it’s easier to call your vagina a pussy or a cunt. Please don’t do that to yourself. You’re so much greater than that. The days are over where we have to refer to our vaginas as pooties.Arianna Huffington, Keynote Speaker

On the other hand, the conflict was minimal and this showed in the insane amount of women we were entertaining on a non-stop basis. Our booth was quite the talk of the conference — especially when the crowd found out we were handing out free vibrators! There is nothing like watching women of all ages, races and attitudes suddenly drop whatever they’re doing to receive a free vibrator. Talk about breaking the ice! We got women to go from shy to outright boisterous within milliseconds. And our contest to win the World’s Greatest Vibrator received literally thousands of entries — looks like more than a few women are willing to acknowledge that, whatever they want to call it, they’re very much willing to please it. Mmhmm.VB Editor Dori Hartley, giddy with vibrator. Paz Mallea working the crowd.

Dr. Chopra said in his talk, that the reason the world is in the terrible shape it’s presently in is due to the overwhelming result of too much male energy, and that is why we have so much destruction, killing and hostility. He says it’s time for the “sacred feminine” consciousness to rise, to save the planet so to speak. He said that it’s the feminine energy that brings with it wisdom and nurturing, that the “goddess” energy is what we must concentrate on right now, if we’re not to going to blow this planet to smithereens. He urged us to come forth, to save the planet…he urged the thousands of women he spoke to to take this instinct of ours, this precious feminine energy and do something good with it, that it’s up to us, that the future depends on how women deal with their own power.A very interested VB guest

We have to do this ladies. We have to own our feminine power, our sexual nature. We can’t be afraid of our own bodies anymore. We can’t be afraid of the word, ‘vagina’ — that’s insane. If we are here to save the planet, and I believe we really are here to do that now, then we have got to know who we are and what we are capable of, and that starts with self-awareness.

What a great group of proud Women! Simply wonderful,there should be more events like these in every city. Congratulations,Venus Blogs! You have made a big impact,continued success and Happy Holidays to you all <3 See you in 2013